Ryan Callahan

[teepee1]

Interested to see people's thoughts on Cally. Does he play top line with Samkos? He's always been a good pp contributor too. How many points do you think he can rack up and how many years does he have in the tank with his grinding style of play?

My league counts hits PIMs and blocked shots - and he is elite in hits cat.

To keep him I would have to drop Schwarz or Letang. I read the recent thread on Schwarz with interest... I wouldn't like to lose him but I am going for the win now.

F: Crosby Backstrom Kessell Johanssen Pavelski RNH Schwarz
D: Phaneuf OEL Letang
G: Bob Niemmi
Farm: R Smith, Drouin, J Gibson

[Carcillo]

Don't know about him playing with Stamkos. Could happen. He could easily play with Filppula on the 2nd line too. That's two very solid two-way players and would give them a line that carries the heavy minutes defensively.

He will still continue seeing lots of PP whether he plays 1st or 2nd line. I think he can have a solid bounce back season and put 45-55 points. Big scale and I would play it safe and project him towards the lower end of it.

Callahan, like Brown, are currently undervalued after a poor season but I think they both still have several good years left in tank. In leagues with hits, they're still valuable contributors to fantasy teams.

That all said, I would not keep him over Schwartz or Letang. That's two highly skilled players who can put up lots of points on the board. Letang is an injury risk but if you own him, hold onto him. If he stays healthy, he will be huge player for your team. And Schwartz will be key player offensively for the Blues. Can't let go a young player like him that will only get better from now on. So while Callahan is a good own, you simply don't seem to have anyone on your team that he'd be upgrade over. His hits are nice but that area can be addressed later on while a high scoring D-men like Letang or young high scoring player like Schwartz are harder to come by.

[doulos]

Is this a Head to Head or a Roto league that you need to make the decision on him about?

[Pengwin7]

Tough call with Callahan.
There's some math to do there.

It's true that Callahan is a "Hits" beast.
But, I like to think about him vs. Schwartz as a 2-for-2 trade, each coupled with a defenseman.

Let's say you need 85pts & 300 hits.

If Callahan is 45pts & 250 hits, then the needed complimentary defenseman is:
A D-man with 40pts & 50 hits.

If Schwartz is 60pts & 50hits, then the needed complimentary defenseman is:
A D-man with 25pts & 250 hits.

40pt defensemen are not easy to find. Light-hitting, scoring D-men like Mark Streit & Andrej Sekera will still be rostered in most leagues.
25pt defensemen, however, are much easier to find. Alexei Emelin, for example, is going to pace for 250hits with 20-25pts.

For me, I think you go Schwartz, since Cally's HITS can be found on the wire among low-scoring defensemen.
And this is one of my preferred strategies in HITS/BLK leagues, is to get your HITS/BLK together in a defensmen and focus your forwards on scoring.

[petegreg21]

I'd keep Schwartz and Letang over Callahan at this point. Callahan and Stamkos don't really have much familiarity with each other so that tandem is anything but a lock. More likely, I see Johnson and Palat lining up with Stamkos, with Cally taking second line duties.

His hits are definitely elite, so if keep Cally, keep him for the hits and take the points as icing on the top.

[Rad64]

If shots are added in Callahan gets another boost.

[Coyote]

Don't know about him playing with Stamkos. Could happen. He could easily play with Filppula on the 2nd line too. That's two very solid two-way players and would give them a line that carries the heavy minutes defensively.

2nd line is where he'll play, just like in NY. I think he's more effective there and makes a bigger impact

[First Round Pick]

I would keep Schwartz and Letang. Going for the win I would rather roll the dice that Letang stays healthy, even 60 games will get him more than most non-keepers. And while Schwartz has lots of competition for a scoring role, I like him better than Callahan. Only one season over 50 points, and 11 in 20 games with TB, I just don't see the incremental you are looking for... Surprisingly he doesn't fill the PIM sheet either.

if you are looking for the perfect storm to win next year, keep Schwartz and Letang. Good luck!

[doulos]

I still am curious as to the league setup here? If the league is points (but points that are calculated as a result of certain categories such as goals, assist, hits etc) then Callahan's hits are not near as important. If it's a head to head league then there might be an argument that could be made for keeping him.

[teepee1]

I still am curious as to the league setup here? If the league is points (but points that are calculated as a result of certain categories such as goals, assist, hits etc) then Callahan's hits are not near as important. If it's a head to head league then there might be an argument that could be made for keeping him.

This is a 8 man roto league starting 4C 9W 4D weekly lockout. With phaneuf and cally hits has always been a reliable category for me. I think I'll drop cally and try to pick up a hitting fwd early in draft (I also had Foglino who was great this year and might redraft him)

[The Hockey Hitman]

TB will be rolling three scoring lines this season(like they did last season as well). Chances are Callahan will be with either Stamkos or Filppula, the latter of which he had very good chemistry with last season. Cooper has a great problem to have come training camp. I ran through several scenarios of line combinations for TB on Twitter a few weeks ago. The one I feel is most likely to stick:

Palat-Stamkos-Callahan
Killorn-Johnson-Kucherov
Drouin-Filppula-Connolly
Morrow-Boyle-Brown
extra: Panik

But really those wingers are pretty interchangeable between lines.

Since Drouin played center all last season, there's always a chance he could end up a center with TB as well, though I doubt it to start his NHL career, at least.

[doulos]

This is a 8 man roto league starting 4C 9W 4D weekly lockout. With phaneuf and cally hits has always been a reliable category for me. I think I'll drop cally and try to pick up a hitting fwd early in draft (I also had Foglino who was great this year and might redraft him)

I think that's the right way to go. HockeyHitman is suggesting he might line up alongside Stamkos and Palat, which would be pretty great, but I'm not as convinced he'll be able to work well on that line.

[teepee1]

I'm trying to trade up / load up on early picks with the aim of redrafting him and 1 or 2 others that I don't want to drop.